I AM always disappointed when a coach is sacked, so Neil Kelly has my sympathy.

I think he has done a good job at Widnes.

How many times do you see in sport that a coach gets sacked because he is perceived as the problem but things continue to spiral downhill?

There are also numerous examples where a board of directors have kept faith with someone they knew had the qualities they required and he has ultimately managed to turn results around.

The reason coaches get the sack is usually the same, but the causes vary.

Sometimes some of the players a coach brings in don't performin the way he anticipated.

Maybe they haven't fitted into the team chemistry and their rapport with the other players hasn't been right.

Injuries can also play a big factor if a coach can't get his best players on the field.

I am not privy to what is going on at Widnes, so I can't be sure of the reasons things have gone the way they have.

But I do see some similarities between what Neil Kelly has gone through and what happened to Castleford coach Graham Stead-man, who was sacked earlier this season.

Unfortunately, some of the players they brought in to their respective sides haven't responded in the way they would have liked.

In rugby league, when you sign players on a contract, you're more or less stuck with them so you have got to get it right.

It's a bit different from the situation in football, where the transfer market is much more fluid.

Another trap a coach can fall into is hanging on to players for too long. Sometimes when a player comes out of contract you have got to acknowledge that although he may have done a good job for you in the past, you have got to make a change to go onto the next level.

Graham Murray, coach of the North Queensland Cowboys who coached at Leeds Rhinos in 1999, once said to me: 'Don't fall in love with them because you might have to sack them'.

That may sound a bit harsh but it is important not to get confused between being appreciative of what a player has done for you in the past and what you need to go forward in the future.

Perhaps there are some parallels there with the Widnes situation.

There will be a lot of emotions running through Neil at the moment and I hope he gets another job so he can continue his development as a coach.